Muslims across the world began celebrating Ramadan, the Islamic holy month during which Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, on August 1, Boston Globe newspaper reported. A student reads the Koran before morning prayer on the holy month of Ramadan at the Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school in Solo, Indonesia Central Java province, August 2. A Pakistani Muslim prepares food stuff for 'Iftar' a time to break their fast, on the first day of holy fasting month of Ramadan at a mosque August 2 in Karachi. Muslims across the world are observing the holy fasting month of Ramadan, where they refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk. Women break fast at King Fahad Mosque on the first day of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in Culver City California August 1. Muslims around the world abstain from eating, drinking and conducting sexual relations from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. Libyan men perform the evening prayer at the end of the first fasting day of Islam's holy month of Ramadan in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi on August 1. Indonesian Muslims perform Tarawih, an evening prayer marking the first eve of the holy fasting month of Ramadan at Istiqlal mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia July 31. During Ramadan, the holiest month in Islamic calendar, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual relations from dawn to dusk. A man enters a mosque for evening prayers on the first day of Ramadan in Moscow August 1. A Kashmiri Muslim reads the Koran on the first day of Ramadan at the landmark Jamia Masjid in Srinagar on August 2. For Muslims across the world, the beginning of the ninth month in the Muslim lunar calendar which marks the start of Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, prayers and fasting. The sun sets behind Al-hussein Mosque on the first day of Ramadan in Amman, Jordan Aug. 1. Religious authorities in most of the Middle East declared Monday the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a period devoted to dawn-to-dusk fasting, prayers and spiritual introspection. A man tries a cap he bought to offer prayers during the Muslim's holy fasting month of Ramadan in Karachi, Pakistan August 1. A Palestinian boy plays with fireworks to celebrate the beginning of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in the town of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on July 31. An Afghan man makes sweets in a shop in Kabul on the eve of the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan on July 31. Throughout the month devout Muslims must fast from dawn until sunset when they break for the Iftar meal. The fast is one of the five pillars of Islam, along with the annual pilgrimage to Mecca which able Muslims should do once in a lifetime. A defected Yemeni soldier who joined sides with anti-regime protesters reads the Koran as he sits on an armoured vehicle near the entrance to Taghyeer Square in Sanaa August 2. After six months of mass protests seeking to end president Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule, demonstrators vow to continue their sit-in at Taghyeer square through the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan until their demands are met.
